1To John Adams from Joel Barlow, 12 December 1785 (Adams Papers)
My friend M r Trumbull has done me the honour to mention my name to you in a letter which is herewith enclosed. The Poem which he mentions is likewise forwarded thro’ the hands of Col—Humphrey to Doct Price with an assgnment of the Copy Right. I have requested the Doctor to use his discretion in procuring an impression & disposing of the copy-Right. Out of the first impression I wish to have...
2To John Adams from Joel Barlow, 14 June 1787 (Adams Papers)
Some months have elapsed since I recieved your very obliging favour of May 1786. I have followed the advice of you & your friend Doct Price in bringing forward a publication of my Poem in America. The Edition is nearly disposed of. I take the liberty of addressing to your care a bundle of the Books, one of which be pleased to accept, & the others I wish to have conveyed to the persons to whom...
3To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 15 June 1787 (Jefferson Papers)
Your character in the literary as well as political world has induced me to request your acceptance of the Poem herewith forwarded to the care of the Marquis de la Fayette. What is said in it of the french king and nation may perhaps occasion it to be translated into that language. Should this ever be done, I would wish it might be in a manner that the work may not appear to disgrace that...
4To George Washington from Joel Barlow, 24 April 1790 (Washington Papers)
The Marquis de Marnasia, who will do me the honor to wait on your Excellency with this, is a gentleman of great respectability, a member of the national Assembly, & enjoys considerable fortune. He & many others are transfering their property to the United States, and are going to settle themselves on the Ohio near the Scioto. He requests me to take the liberty to announce to your Excellency...
5To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 25 August 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I should not take the liberty of commending to your notice and protection my excellent friends Mr. and Mrs. St. John were it not that their merit entitles them to more than I can otherwise do for them. Mr. St. John transfers a considerable property to our country with an intention to devote that and himself wholly to Agriculture, of which his accurate intelligence in every part of rural...
6To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 2 February 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I take the liberty to present you with a short treatise of mine on the present circumstances of Europe, which by a kind of moral reaction may stand a chance to be of some use in America; as a habit of reflecting on the subjects here treated may induce us to prize such of our own institutions as are good, and to improve those that are defective. I hope to sail for America in a short time;...
7To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 18 March 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I know not what apology to offer for troubling you so often with my publications. I sent you last month a pamphlet, called “Advice to the Privileged Orders” &c. I beg you now to accept a little poem entitled, The Conspiracy of Kings. Though one of my Kings died while the Poem was in the press, it was not my fault. If this had been the case with all of them, I should have been willing to have...
8To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 1 October 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved your favour of the 20th. June by Mr. Pinckney, who appears to deserve all that you say of him as a true republican. I wish as much could be said in this respect of our minister at Paris. It is really unfortunate for our interest as well as for the cause of liberty in general, that he does not accord better with the principles which do and ought to govern the people of France. That...
9To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 8 March 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
I have been extremely anxious lest some of the late transactions in France should be so far misrepresented to the Patriots in America as to lead them to draw conclusions unfavorable to the cause of liberty in this hemisphere. You are sensible that in order to form a proper judgement it is necessary to combine many circumstances that cannot be well understood by men out of the country. The new...
10To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 2 December 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
We have but just learnt the news of the peace between the Portuguese and the Algerines, and of the sortie of the latter from the mediterranean to cruse against the Americans. You doubtless must have had the information much sooner, as it seems to have been known to Col. Humphreys on the 7th. October. We have already heard of the capture of five American ships off cape St. Vincent’s. One of the...